Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usTue, 01 Nov 2011 01:40:32 +0000New data on Occupy Wall Street fundinghttp://www.dailydot.com/news/new-data-occupy-wall-street-funding/<p><img src='//cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/75/91/7591a7689391d252a0c6cfca53f93d1f.jpg'></p><p>
More than a month into the Occupy Wall Street protests have many media outlets and political pundits wondering about the movement&rsquo;s funding. Where do all these <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/news/journalist-distributes-bongs-for-interviews/">unemployed, so-called smelly hippie-types</a> get their money anyway?</p>
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WePay, which is more or less an online payment and donation site, is about to shed some light on that mystery, and no -- <a href="http://www.observer.com/2011/10/more-money-more-problems-how-occupy-wall-street-is-really-funded/">it still isn&rsquo;t George Soros</a>. &nbsp;</p>
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WePay is releasing donation data related to Occupy Wall Street tomorrow, in a handy infographic, and according to data shown via e-mail to the Daily Dot, the results are surprising.</p>
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To date, WePay has been used by Occupy Wall Street to collect more than $380,000 dollars, through a total of 363 groups. Donations grew by 301% in a 17 day period, at 17.72% average growth per day.</p>
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&ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited to see people raising money for causes they&rsquo;re passionate about,&rdquo; said Bill Clerico, the CEO of WePay, via phone interview.</p>
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&ldquo;I&#39;ve seen this type of growth before, in a lot of our donation campaigns,&rdquo; said Clerico. He said similar spikes occured when causes proliferated over social media -- an undeniable advantage for Occupy Wall Street, which is more popular on social networks than in mainstream media. &nbsp;</p>
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WePay allows users to create groups, to raise funds for specific purposes, but it&rsquo;s also handy at breaking down how the money is being used.</p>
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The Occupy Wall Street funding groups break down as such:</p>
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<a href="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2011/11/1/infographic-ows.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2011/11/1/infographic-ows.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; width: 640px; height: 1456px; " /></a></p>
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According to average donation sizes by state, Connecticut had the largest pockets, giving $65.15, while North Dakota donated the least, at $16.25.</p>
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Occupy donations didn&rsquo;t just come from the United States: 37 countries donated to Occupy Wall Street-related groups, including Canada, Finland (which had the highest number of donations per capita), and Mexico.</p>
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Other highlights of the data include the disclosure that three campaigns collected money to power their campsites with renewable energy, a la wind mills and solar panels.</p>
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Mass arrests and alleged police brutality tend to generate a spike in donations; on the day 141 demonstrators were arrested in Boston, WePay saw a spike of more than 400% in donations in Massachusetts.</p>
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After Scott Olsen was critically injured in Oakland last week, two more Occupy groups sprung up in Oakland, and 98.66% of all Occupy Oakland donations raised came in after Scott Olsen&rsquo;s injury.</p>
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Males were almost twice as likely to donate than females, and people whose highest level of education was High School donated the most, at 42%.</p>
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Folks making between 50K and 75K a year made up the largest percentage, at 25%. The top two income brackets making over 200K a year, combined, donated less than the income bracket below 15K. &nbsp;A telling statistic; the rich do feel antagonized by the Occupy movement.</p>
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Clerico, who said he was a banker on Wall Street but left because the work wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;fulfilling,&rdquo; finds himself in an unintentionally ironic situation: as the head of a site channeling funds to a movement dead-set against his old job. Just a happenstance, Clerico assured me. &nbsp;(WePay was also founded in 2008, well before Occupy Wall Street was even an idea.)</p>
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Clerico says he hasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;taken a stance&rdquo; on Occupy Wall Street, though added he is personally excited about the growth in donations, saying &ldquo;we encourage raising money for social activism.&rdquo;</p>
fruzsina-eordoghTue, 01 Nov 2011 01:40:32 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/news/new-data-occupy-wall-street-funding/News